Trending Players You Need To Know Before Week 14 Fantasy Football
Week 14: Players Trending Up & Trending Down
If you’re going to win a fantasy football championship, you have to be in tune with the latest trends. As you know, things change in the NFL so quickly. Roles are expanding for young players this time of year, injuries are creating question marks across the league, etc. Staying on top of which players are trending up and trending down at all times will ensure you make the most informed lineup and roster decisions during the most critical time of the fantasy football season. With that in mind, here are the top trending players ahead of Week 14.
More Trends: Fantasy Notebook: Snaps, Targets, Air Yards, & Routes Data From Week 13
Trending Up
Chuba Hubbard
Chuba Hubbard started the season behind offseason addition Miles Sanders. It wasn’t long before Hubbard proved to be the more explosive and efficient running back in Carolina, though. It’s been several weeks since he took a stranglehold on the RB1 job, but there were doubts about him retaining that top spot with last week’s coaching changes. But he did just that. In Week 13 against the Buccaneers, Hubbard carried the ball a season-high 25 times for 104 yards and a pair of scores. He was just the second running back to reach the century mark against the Bucs this season. Hubbard has now scored 42.6 fantasy points over the last two weeks and has solidified his spot atop the depth chart. His utilization in the passing game will cushion his floor and enhance his ceiling as we head towards the fantasy football playoffs.
Nico Collins
Nico Collins is experiencing a third-year breakout. A lot of that can be attributed to the play of rookie quarterback CJ Stroud, but Collins has done his part in facilitating what has so far been a top-12 season. Stroud will need to lean on Collins even more now with Tank Dell out for the season. With Dell leaving early in Week 13, Collins exploded for 191 yards and a touchdown while catching 9 of 12 targets. It was his second-consecutive 100-yard performance and fourth of the season.
Collins currently sits top-10 among wide receivers in receiving yards, yards after the catch, yards per route, and yards per target (PlayerProfiler). Looking ahead to the fantasy football playoffs, the Texans do have a tough matchup against the Browns in Week 16, but that is sandwiched between two games against the pass-funnel Titans in Weeks 15 and 17. Collins is going to be on a ton of championship rosters at season’s end.
Jonathan Mingo
After a hot start to the season, Panthers veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen has been unsurprisingly fading in the second half. That has coincided with the ascension of rookie second round pick Jonathan Mingo. Mingo was not a strong prospect coming out of Ole Miss and he may never truly breakout, but we have to pay attention to his recent usage. The team is clearly trying to get him the football and that continued under the new coaching regime in Week 13. Mingo led the Panthers with a 91.4% route participation rate against the Bucs and he’s had target shares of 20.6%, 23.1%, 25.0%, and 38.5% over the last four weeks. He’s unlikely to breakout, but he needs to be monitored and stashed in deeper leagues.
Zay Jones
Zay Jones may wind up being a league-winner. However, there are two major contingencies on that. One is the health of quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He needs to not miss more than a week or two for this to come to fruition. We would also need Christian Kirk to remain out with his groin injury. While it’s too early to know how those two injuries will play out, if Lawrence is in and Kirk is out, Zay Jones will be a major factor in the fantasy football playoffs. Jones has finally gotten healthy himself and he’s coming off an eight target game. As the WR2 in Jacksonville last season, Jones commanded over 120 targets and averaged more than 12 fantasy points per game. With matchups against the Buccaneers and Panthers in the final two weeks of the fantasy football playoffs, Jones needs to be added in all leagues.
Elijah Moore
Amari Cooper may miss time with his concussion which could make Elijah Moore fantasy relevant. With Cooper leaving early in Week 13, Moore was targeted 12 times. He only caught 4 for 83, but he led all NFL pass catchers with 255 air yards and he was the clear favorite of quarterback Joe Flacco. If Flacco remains the starter in Week 14 and Cooper sits, Moore will be a worthy WR3 option in a pivotal final week before the start of the fantasy playoffs. He gets a great matchup against the Jaguars who just got lit up by Jake Browning and company.
Zack Moss
Zack Moss “szn” was back on last week after it was reported that Jonathan Taylor would miss multiple weeks with a thumb injury. Unfortunately for those who plugged Moss into their starting lineup for Week 13, Moss produced an underwhelming 7.7 fantasy points. However, that came against a strong Titans run defense and in a game where Gardner Minshew dropped back nearly 50 times. Moss’s role was right in line with what we saw from him earlier this season when he was operating as the team’s RB1. Moss was on the field for 94% of the snaps, he ran 32 routes (64% route participation rate), and led the backfield in targets (3). The schedule opens up for the Colts moving forward with especially juicy matchups in Weeks 16 and 17 when they get the Falcons and Raiders.
Dontayvion Wicks
Christian Watson appeared to re-injure his hamstring on Sunday Night Football. If Watson misses time, Packers rookie Dontayvion Wicks will be asked to step up. Wicks has flashed at times this season. He had a 91-yard receiving game in Week 11 and he’s gone over 40 yards six times. Fellow rookie Quentin Johnston has only done that twice in Los Angeles despite being a first round pick and playing a full-time role. Over the next four weeks, the Packers get the Giants, Buccaneers, Panthers, and Vikings. If Watson misses that stretch, Wicks could be a relevant flex play in deeper formats.
Note: Jayden Reed will be the biggest beneficiary of Watson’s absence but hopefully you already knew that!
Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was incredibly close to a huge breakout performance in Week 13. He ended the day with a modest 7 catches for 62 yards, but it could have been so much better. JSN was originally ruled to have scored a long touchdown but it was called incomplete after replay review despite the lack of clear evidence Smith-Njigba actually lost control of the ball as he hit the ground. That would have been an additional 10 fantasy points on top of the 13.2 he was officially credited with. Despite the disappointment, Smith-Njigba’s fantasy managers should be excited about the performance. That’s because, on a day where DK Metcalf was as hot as anyone, JSN still led the Seahawks with 11 targets and a 28.9% target share.
It’s no surprise that it has taken Smith-Njigba a little bit of time to get going this season. After all, he pretty much didn’t play football last season due to injury at Ohio State. Then he had wrist surgery two weeks before the start of his rookie campaign. Factor-in target competition in the names of Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, there was little reason to panic. Now 13 weeks into the season and quarterback Geno Smith playing better, it would not be surprising to see JSN have a late-season breakout. That could happen just in time for the fantasy football playoffs when the Seahawks get matchups against the Eagles and Titans—two of the worst teams at defending wide receivers this season—and the Steelers who are mid-pack in that same category.
Trending Down
Austin Ekeler
It’s time we have a difficult conversation about Austin Ekeler. It’s been no secret that Ekeler has not looked his explosive self this season. We’ve all seen the highlight of him looking sluggish as he was caught from behind while running down the sideline a few weeks back. Ekeler has not reached 70 rushing yards in a game since Week 1. He also hasn’t hit 50 receiving yards since the end of October. In his last three games, Ekeler has totaled just 161 yards, no touchdowns, and has fumbled twice. He’s averaging fewer than 8 fantasy points per game during that stretch. His efficiency metrics have declined across the board, and the struggles of the Chargers offense hasn’t helped.
The schedule for the fantasy playoffs (Raiders, Bills, Broncos) is about as juicy as it gets, but I’m worried Ekeler may not have enough gas left in the tank to fully take advantage.
Sam Howell
Sam Howell has been the quarterback-streamer of the year in 2023. But his days as a reliable starting option in fantasy football may be over. Howell had been trending down already heading into Week 13, but his performance against the Dolphins put the nail in his coffin. How in a game that you lose by 30 points, do you only attempt 23 passes? The matchup with the Dolphins was THE week to play Howell and he let us down big time. Now he has a fantasy playoffs schedule of the Rams, Jets, and 49ers, all have been difficult matchups for quarterbacks this season (especially NYJ & SF). Howell cannot be trusted in these matchups. I hope you have other options to turn to.
Do you need lineup help? Jump in our Discord and join the discussion!
RANKINGS | WEEKLY | DYNASTY |
Compete vs us in Weekly drafts, Pick Ems & more On Underdog! Use Promo-Code: YARDSPER to double your deposit!
